


Tribute

by She_Who_Only_Knows_War



Category: Original Work
Genre: A little thrown together, Angst, Brief Mentions of Polyandry, F/M, Foul-Mouthed Characters, Hopeful Ending, Mareo-Centric, Offensive Smack Talk, Pining, Slight Humor, Sorry guys, Tragic Love, i think, referenced character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 10:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4956178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/She_Who_Only_Knows_War/pseuds/She_Who_Only_Knows_War
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mareo is living as normal. As normal as it can get for himself and his family.<br/>Then their past comes crashing back into his life and he can't pass up the chance to see <em>her</em> again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tribute

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of a thing for the past I can't return to. Nor should I want to return to it.  
> But I am (As many humans are) a creature of habit. So I miss it. But I've also come to terms with it.  
> I might rewrite this, but for now, I may as well post it, ne?  
> The names are a little different than the way it originally was and if the person who helped build this world ever wants me to take it down, I have the same number as I always do.  
> The last chapter for TtIW is about half way done for anybody that cares haha

I'm exhausted when I ease the door shut behind me, work bag making a thump on the hardwood floor. "I'm home!"

"Then go away."

"In the kitchen," Says Father, voice exasperated. Airi is sitting at the table, reading a letter from a boy I can't remember the name of.

Ah, but that was five years and one Country ago.

I can hear Shisui pacing upstairs. "He okay?" I ask Airi.

She shrugs. "He's had his headphones on all damn day. So quite frankly, I don't care."

I shake my head. "Kagekiyo and Haru?"

"With those low-life thugs. Fucking around. What else is new?"

I think about arguing with Airi. The boys really do hang out with decent kids, they just don't study as hard as Shisui, Airi, and I did. And I think it'd be good if some of us get to be kids. Things were hard back in the day.

But she is already ear-deep in that stupid love letter.

I really hate that guy. "That a new one?"

"Yes," She says. "Now go away. Your bitter pining over lost love is destroying my experience."

" _Airi!_ " Says Father. "Mareo is your brother!"

"Yes," She says again. "But he's still upset about a girl he only knew til he was six."

Father shakes his head. "Sometimes, bonds are forged deep."

"Like Mother?" I ask.

"Like Mother," Father agrees, wiping his hands on a fluffy red towel.

I don't remember much of what happened. But I do remember a bitter fight between neighbors and everything falling apart. It didn't help that my parents were polyandrous. My Father left. Shisui's Father stayed for some time. My Mother, hurt so deep from whatever happened, turned us over to Ken.

And I wonder, some times, if she surrendered her parental rights.

Multiple pairs of feet stampede through the door. "I found this awesome comic-"

"Don't tell me it's Superman again."

Kage's voice is peeved when he says, "What's wrong with Superman?"

"Everything," Says Haru.

"That's cause Haru likes Cat-woman," Says one of their annoying friends.

"Do not," Says Haru as they round the breakfast bar and wildebeest their way into the kitchen.

"Hey, tards," Says Airi without looking up.

Haru frowns but Kagekiyo snatches the letter from her hands. "What do you bet my IQ is higher than your boyfriend's?"

I would be mad at Kage, but he's always been sensitive about his intellectual prowess. Whether or not it's because he doesn't have an IQ that's up to par with mine or Airi's, that's still to be debated.

Ken always said our Grandparents were ultra intelligent, but Mom was about average in intelligence.

Our Dad, Ken thinks, was above average, but he isn't for sure.

Shisui's Dad, on the other hand, was a genius.

I went through my teen years hearing that people chose those of equal intelligence to be their partners. But if that's the case, I'm left to wonder about Shisui's Dad and our Mom. Did he just happen to take pity on her? Is it like a person of average intelligence falling in love with someone who is a complete idiot?

How does that work?

Airi is over the table, trying to murder our baby brother. I should probably put a stop to it, but Kagekiyo gives her dark hair a rough yank and bolts a good ten feet from her when she lets go.

Okay, so my family puts the " _Fun_ " in " _Dysfunctional._ "

"Hand it over, butt-munch," She says.

"Make me, two headed vagina monster!"

Dad is aghast at the name-calling that ensues and I leave. Because when Dad blows up, he's scary as hell. And I don't want to get caught in the cross-fire and subject myself to something I don't deserve.

Upstairs, Shisui is still pacing and when I gesture for his headphones to come off, he frowns but complies. "Yeah?"

"That better not be rap," I say. I'm kidding, really. Shisui has always been more into rock or nu-metal, whatever the hell that is.

Today, he doesn't laugh at the joke or crack one in response. Sitting on his bed, I watch him pace.

Then he stops. You can't force Shisui into a revelation before he's ready. He'll just clam up. I wonder which parent that comes from. Something else about us is this: Most of us are blonde, Shisui, Kagekiyo, and I. Airi and Haru are brunettes.

"I saw her," He says.

"Saw who?" There were so many people who left our lives. None of it was fun. Especially not when our Mother left us. I don't remember much except the horrible, awful feeling of not being wanted.

"I saw," He trips and staggers over his words. Tongue-twisted with awkward stops and starts. "I don't know. But I know she's important to us." Shisui has always been a little different. Slightly superstitious with an untrustworthy gut, his instincts lie on a spectrum of extremes.

I laugh a little though, try to lighten the mood. "Ah. You let your soulmate pass you by, Shi. Maybe one day you'll see her aga-"

" _No,_ " Says Shisui. "She was... Oh God." He drops to the floor and long, skinny legs crossing underneath him with a grace Ken has trained into us, and puts his head in his hands. "Mars, I know her name. She came from **that family.** "

I frown. "That isn't possible." They moved away. We never kept in touch and then we moved to America. To a small town. Dad said it was because he had a bucket list that involved the beautiful United States.

Airi and I think it's because some one is looking for us. Eiji, an old, weird-as-hell scientist that could make all sorts of freaky shit happen, had started telling us to keep our heads down.

And when he gets involved in something, you worry. If only just a little.

"She knew my name, Mareo."

"What'd she look like?" There are many faded faces that flicker through my mind's eye. It might be that he's just seeing our old friends in new faces. We have trouble making connections here. Everybody is so damn tight-nit.

"You okay?" Asks Katrina as she comes in to pillage my book stash. She and her twin, Kass, are Ken's real kids.

Yeah, he also had one more set of twins dumped on him. He pretty much runs a fucking orphanage. And before you ask, no. You can't dump your baby here because he doesn't adopt out.

Weird, isn't it?

"I saw her today." Katrina pauses mid pull of a book from my shelf, alphabetized and organized by subject, and reshelves it to exactly the distance I like it from the edge. Katrina is good to me that way. If she touches my stuff, it's always back in its place when she's done. Unlike my family who rearrange them for fun.

"Shisui?"

"A... It was ' _A_ ' something. I know it! I know it!"

Katrina is there in the blink of an eye, pulling him against her. "Just be patient. It'll come."  
Shisui has an incredible memory. At times, better than mine or Airi's.

But an ' _A_ ' name doesn't mean much, honestly.

Finally, he says, "That girl that kept her hair in a braid! The one that loved Akane!" And the world sort of stops. I say sort of for two reasons.

One: Her name clicks. Avalon. And she was adopted. Like us. Like Nat-

Reason Two is that there's no possible way she would be here. None.

So why is Shisui so sure?

Something I should probably point out is that Shisui's emotions rule him. He's smart, but his heart makes him an idiot. We always joke that, in a horror movie, he'd be the first to trip and fall and yell, " _Leave me! Save yourselves!_ " And still live at the end.

Why?

Because he'd go on an annoying diatribe and the crazy ax-murderer would get bored and step over him, deciding he isn't worth killing.

Katrina has nothing to say. Which is fine because Kass is the articulate one.

xXx

Life pretty much goes back to normal after that. As normal as it can be in a house full of weirdos.

And then she shows up on our doorstep.

The first thing I notice is how blue her eyes are. She looks like just yesterday she was coming over to babysit us.

It's maddening. Absolutely maddening.

"Mareo," She says.

I slam the door in her face. It's too real. Too raw. It hurts and I don't want to deal with this. I can't deal with this.

But she's standing in the room I share with Shisui, Kass, and Leo. (And Airi, but we don't talk about that in front of Dad.)

"You guys have acquired a wealth of knowledge, ah."

"Go home," I say.

There's no emotion in her voice when she says, "I can't, ah."

"And why the hell not?"

"Because they came and took my family, ah."

I stare at her. Because this means they have Sa-

 _Must'nt think of it_ , I tell myself. _Let her go._

But Avalon - Damn you, Avalon - Grabs my arm. "You know she would do the same if this was your family." Her frame is thin, hands small.

I remember calling her Cousin.

It makes me want to hurl.

I'm not kidding you. My whole family has been running from this ever since It happened. (Whatever It was.) So for this - For this insane woman to show up on my doorstep, demanding my help... It's just too damn much.

xXx

When I wake, I look up and grey eyes are staring down at me. "Damn it Atsuko," I say. "Didn't your family teach you manners?!"

She doesn't even blink. And oh look! Another flashback. Did I mention my memory is great? No? Well, just so you know, it sucks.

Atsuko, wearing enough metal that even a small magnet could whisk her away, turns to Shisui. And I suspect, he's been spazzing out over her since she appeared. Which makes no sense, by the way, because she's always been an utter dick to him.

At least, when we were kids.

I can tell by the slight draw of his brow and the softness of his eyes that he really wants her.

My brother is a moron.

But, I suppose, so were our parents. Sins of the Father and all that.

"You have to agree to help us."

"How many times do I have to say no to you people?!"

Atsuko stares, deadpan. And she's the only person (Outside of my family) that isn't fazed or even curious about my heterochromia. "Shisui volunteered."

I'm stuck between anger at Atsuko and anger at Shisui. "I don't care. I'm not going. My team isn't going. And my family isn't going." Now, for us, _Team_ is synonymous with _Family_. But give them a loophole and they'll slink through it better than any snake you've seen.

"I hereby change my name to _Shisui-Only-Child._ "

It's at this point, I think about beating the shit out of him.

"Shisui," Says Airi. "I dare you to try walking out that door." Goose pimples break out all over my skin. The boys feel it too. Nobody disobeys Airi.

This gives our darling dumbass brother pause. We all wait for him to reply though.

"Are you coming or not?"

xXx

"Thank you," Says Avalon. "I was so scared someone would come for us again and Natsuhiko isn't in condition to fight, ah."

Natsuhiko appears in my mind's eye, tan with dexterous fingers and sturdy frame. We worshipped him when we were kids. We wanted his skill and kind heart and gentle mouth.

We wanted to **be** him. We wanted our Fathers to be as proud of us as his had been of him.

I feel mixed emotions that those dreams turned to dust in my hands.

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for Ken. Really. But I wanted _my_ Father.

Atsuko tosses more wood into the fireplace. In the low light, she resembles her mother.

"Can we see him?"

Avalon chews her lip. "I don't know if-"

"Please," Says Airi, sounding unlike her usual bossy self. I can tell she's playing Avalon.

And I let her.

"You still have your training," Says Atsuko. Silhouetted by the fire behind her, she looks like an angel. I glance at Shisui and roll my eyes. His gaze meets mine and I subtly sign, _Down boy_ , with my right hand.

 _Shut up_ , Shisui signs with his left.  


"The local government isn't exactly advanced," I admit. So we've been keeping ourselves sharp with urban training and crime stopping. No harm, right?

"That must get boring around there."

I don't say a word. Instead, I move over to a wooden cabinet with glass doors. The pictures startle me.

Mom's best friend and two husbands in one. The three of them with Natsuhiko, smiling and twig thin. An orphan he was. Just like orphans we are.

Then, the pictures of Kohana and Sam-

There are also family photos with Rei and Katsu, not to mention Avalon, who was also adopted.

"Fine," Says Avalon. "But don't disturb him." I'm almost too afraid to see how age has changed Natsuhiko.

xXx

The pale light that filters through the draped windows makes Natsuhiko look frail.

The dark ink lining his tan skin, interrupted only by the bandages stained pink and red, makes him look like his father. Long lean limbs and chiseled muscle. Inky black hair framing an angular face.

Belladonna, the girl that was once their greatest nemesis, stands beside him in the waning, watered-down light. She's no longer a mere girl, accessorized with a can of spray-glitter and a mischievous grin.

She's a hardened woman, adorned with lines of wear and sorrow and hands calloused.

"How is he?" Asks Avalon.

His eyes slit open and I'm surprised that he's awake. Belladonna strokes his hair and light brown, bleary eyes shift towards her. "The fever is kicking in."

"He ain't gonna die, right?" Asks Leo.

"We aren't sure." Belladonna's fingers stroke feather-light over Natsu's eye lids and he makes no move to complain. Atsuko gives me a look.

They need something to keep them going, I realize. They need a goal so Natsuhiko's possible death has a resolution. So he will not die in vain.

"Let's get his family back."

Shisui looks like I just brought him a puppy and Airi's gaze turns blood thirsty. Meeting Atsuko's gaze shows her approval.

"Mother fuckin nigga bitches," Mutters a woman as she comes in.

"Ghetto coochie," Says Shisui.

And before I can yell at my retarded brother, a dark arm slings around his shoulder, teeth sharp and white. Her hair is deep ocean blue and her eyes are dark. "Long time no see, Mormonista."

They were utterly wrong to call her Kaoru. Truly.

"What's up, clam licker?" Asks Shisui.

"Heard you were trying to party without me."

"Nah," Says Shisui. "Ain't a party unless you're here."

"Damn right," Says Kaoru.

"Didn't your father teach you to speak like a real human being?" I ask, keeping my tone light and aiming towards humor.

"He tried," Says Kaoru. "But he's gettin older all the time."

"He was in his thirties when you were born," Murmers Shisui wiggling his fingers against his chin.

"Almost fifty now."

"And we all know he's too old for your bullshit," Says Airi, crushing the friendly mood. "Act right."

Kaoru's arm tenses against Shisui's shoulder and I can see her weighing her odds against Airi.  
Kaoru will probably have more physical strength but Airi will have an upper hand on agility.

"Airi, Kass, Katrina. You're on plotting the course. Go get the maps," I say. Hoping to break up the tension. "Shisui, Kaoru, Leo, and Servile, you're on investigation. Go ask the villagers what they saw and which way these people went." Shisui looks like he's having Christmas early. " _Subtly,_ " I emphasize.

Kagekiyo and Haru are watching me, a little peeved that I still don't let them go on the action teams. But I need to know they're safe. Even if that means they're with me.

"Avalon and Belladonna, stay with Natsuhiko."

Akane and Aoi stand outside the _shouji_ in silence. Both of them have hair that has to do with their names. It's nice to know we'll have back up if we need it.

"Fuyuko?" I ask Akane.

He shakes his head. "Died protecting Natsu."

I find it odd that his sister had come back after his adoption.

 _Too little too late_ , Ken said once.

Iwao rounds the corner then. I think about how handsome and strong he's become and I wonder why the nicest flowers always bloom late.

"You know they said she was actually his mom." Confusion must have coloured my features because Iwao says then, "Our brother Natsu might be a product of incest."

I shake my head and thin my lips, annoyed that these men could speak so horribly of one of their own.

"Fujita?"

"That dumbass left years ago."

"What about Kohana's family?" Namely, my askance is about her Uncles.

"Their mom died a few Winters ago. Susumu left. Akira died of cancer in the spring. Reizo has been sending Natsuhiko and Avalon postcards from all over the place," Says Akane. "I guess they actually gave him a passport."

I remember liking Akahana. She always brought us candy. Although, I don't think she ever liked Natsuhiko's side of the family very much. "Do we know the men that took off with the family?"

"Possibly one of Eiji's affiliates. Possibly someone Fuyuko made angry. Then there's everyone Renji's ever crossed." They're right. The options are too many. The trails are probably too few.

But I have to try.

"Can you stay and protect them?" I ask.  
They look between each other. I notice one of the group is missing but I've no idea who...

"Can do, boss," Says a blonde who's a little cheekier than I can be happy with. But at least I know Natsuhiko is safe. This is what matters.

The twins make an appearance then, too. "What are we doing?"

"Get everyone's weapons in fighting condition."

xXx

"We go west," Says Kaoru. Shisui nods sagely beside her. I think I might call him out on acting like a ham soon.

We'll go out through the forest that has grown back since Natsuhiko burned it down and down the path Avalon once wandered with no fear. Even past the house my family spent those short few years in.

Maybe we'll avoid that route for now, actually.

xXx

Natsuhiko is aware of us the morning we set out to leave. And when he looks at me, there's that evident, _Stay away from my sister_ , vibe. But he can't stop me from rescuing his family. He can't go, either. I wonder how worried his mother and fathers must be.

I wonder how worried mine aren't.

Airi's hand slides into mine at the same time Katrina's does. In my peripheral, I see Airi try to give Katrina a subtle cue to back off.

I'd remind Airi who's really dating whom if it weren't that we were in front of people we hadn't seen for years. First impressions and all that.

xXx

A few days in a new town gives us time to restock and rest. Time might be of the essence, but if we're tired, we're slow and weak.

Airi has been practicing asking Akio out for the last day. We both agree everything she says sounds lame.

Shisui and Kaoru have been rekindling an old flame. Atsuko watches with mild jealousy from a distance.

"You should say something to him," I tell her. "But don't be aloof or you won't miss the boat - You'll be dumped out of it."

She gives me a _What do you know?_ glance and I move on. Atsuko is pretty on the outside, but I've never found her pretty on the inside.

A bell chimes in the distance and Atsuko perks. "You know that sounds like-" She cuts herself off and turns towards the pair she'd been glaring at all day. "Shisui! Kaoru! **Move!** "

Shisui perks and Kaoru grabs him by the arm and starts hauling ass toward us. A blast throws them to the ground and the only thing I'm aware of, in that moment, is my brother's body in the dirt.

Atsuko's pace is just as quick as mine and she tends to Kaoru as I roll my brother over, pulling and prodding at him.

"I'm fine! I'm fine," He says a little too loudly. A little too clumsy.

"With a concussion?" I retort.

He looks at me. "What?"

"A concussion!" I yell.

He stands to his feet a little shakey. "Damn. Stop. All I hear is ringing..."

Kaoru sits up then. "Ringing?"

I grab his arm and he turns in just the right way that I notice the dark red river flowing down the side of his neck.

"What?" He yells. And I imagine he's trying to yell over the ringing.

xXx

"He can't fight if he's deaf."

"It may be temporary," Says Kass. "People have their hearing damaged sometimes and it comes back."

I'm not convinced.

"Besides, he can't go home by himself. If he isn't safe with us, he's definitely not safe without us."

I glance at Shisui and I'm mildly annoyed that his back is to us. It's not that he can hear us anyway, but I really miss him chiming in to make some stupid side point. Or to argue that a little bit of knocking can't bring him down.

He's just lost his hearing. Yet he's doing a marvelous job of not showing the panic he's feeling on the inside.

"We're going to be doing a lot more training to work with his handicap," I decide. Because he needs to know that we don't see him any different.

Whomever set those explosives never revealed himself. And we don't seek him out. We don't have any time to.

xXx

Approaching our last destination, I look up at the palace and wonder why.

Shisui and Kaoru, closer than ever, are charged with opening the gates. Leo and Servile start taking men out with their regular cat-like grace. When the draw bridge lowers I know that I, myself cannot conquer our enemies.

But our family can.

Airi strides beside me like a Queen, head held high.

xXx

The battle comes to an end when the man is flanked by Airi, both of our swords pointed towards him. And I think about going ahead and killing him there until I see her.

Leo comes flying to Kohana and wraps her in his arms. She's nearly knocked over and obviously feels awkward.

But my main focus is on her half sister.

Samantha.

Instead of acting like the other fools around me, I flick the blood off my blade and give the man a warning glance before stepping around him and calmly making my way to her.

She's taller than I am and while I'm slightly irked by it, I'm okay with it too because: Damn. You can't even understand how much I've missed her.

She's always been apart of me. From the cradle to the grave.

"Mareo?" Asks an older woman who looks like Samantha.

I bow my head. "Ma'am."

"Oh my god! It's been so long!" She says. "Your mother?"

Despite it being a prickly subject, I manage a weak smile and say, "I honestly don't know."

Samantha looks so sad at that moment. "I'm so sorry."

I go to take her hand in mine but she pulls away. It stings that she doesn't remember me.

 _That's alright_ , I promise myself. _I've earned it once, I can do it again._

But Sojun appears out of the hallway. "Sam!"

"I'm here," She says. "I'm safe."

And when he appears, he wraps my woman in his arms and she clings to him.

And damn it that _**fucking**_ burns.

The fact that Sojun looks at me so smug and victorious says he remembers me, too. Damn it all to hell.

But I love Samantha. And she's happy where she is. There's no way I can interfere with that. So I glare at him and hope he catches fire.

She turns to me and I'm forced to instantly reroute my thoughts. "My brother sent you and your men to come for me?"

"Airi's a man, alright," Pipes up Kagekiyo from behind us.

I sigh and roll my eyes, Airi starts chasing him and they flee from the castle. If he's going to dish out smack talk, he's going to have to get used to getting smacked.

"Yeah," I say when the embarrassment wears off. I can't take them anywhere, I swear.

"Thank you," She says. Her smile lights the whole damn place up and I've never felt more in the dark than this moment.

"You needn't have come," Sojun says primly. His tone says, _We don't need you._ Ever the sophisticated asshole.

My father and Shisui's father both had decent breeding. My mother - Not so much. I remember hearing the whispers that her blood dampened that of my father's. Of Shisui's father.

"I will always come if Samantha needs me," I say, trying to keep the emotions out of my voice. I hope to sound strong and masculine and every inch the leader I am to my family.

Samantha turns to me. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?"

Sojun smirks at me and the pain rises up and up and up. I grit my teeth from the agony. "No. I'm merely a man ensnared by your beauty." Before she can reply, I turn on my heel and make to leave this damn place.

"Mareo," Says Sam's mother. "What happened to-"

"Good day," I say to her. Haru follows but Shisui stays, confused as hell. I hear her trying to communicate with him. That's fine. He'll catch up when he's ready. Kaoru, Kass, and Atsuko are still with him.

Katrina dogs my heels, too. "So what? That's it?" She asks.

"Yes." It's more a bark than a response. I don't care. I'll get over this. I always get over it.

"You're just going to let Sojun have her? After everything?"

I round on her then. "What's it to you? You've been trying to get into my pants since puberty. Isn't this a good thing for you?"

Katrina is stunned, mouth opening and closing, brain on overdrive to find the right response. We both know she won't.

"She's marrying up. She'll be happy and comfortable and her father likes him. So _what?_ " I yell at her.

My head snaps to the side and Katrina pauses to let it sink in before lowering her hand. "Don't raise your voice to me. Ever." She says. "You came all this way and fought for her physically. But you won't fight for her intellectually. Doesn't that reflect badly on you?"

"Only a bad man lures a woman away from a good marriage."

"And if they aren't married?"

I sigh. We both know Samantha isn't. "Are you really going to let her go and settle? Living the rest of your life knowing that you could have had her but you let her go?"

"You aren't helping your chances," I tell her.

"I'll become a second wife if I have to," She replies. Sounding to all the world like she can just snap her fingers and I'll bow to her whims. I'm given a beat to wonder if she's arrogant or if I'm just easy. "But I can't prove I'm superior if there's no one to compare me to. Airi doesn't count."

"Because Airi is my sister?"

"Because Airi is a whore."

"I'm gonna let that one slide." I turn to see Sam standing in the doorway, watching me. I'm not her Prince.

Hell, I'm not even a knight in shining armor.

I am slow and calm when I approach her in the shade of the brick and morder archway. "I know you don't know me," I say. "But please, just give me this."

She doesn't move when my hands alight on her waist and for a moment, I pretend that she's been waiting for me. That she has dreamt of seeing me again since we were separated. Her arms wrap around my neck as my head dips and my mouth brushes against her plush lips. I'm caught in a whirlwind, a spark of desire and I pull her just a little closer. Her fingers tangle in my hair, nose brushing against my cheek and her breath picks up.

I've no idea about mine as my heart is louder than everything else.

Finally she pulls away for air. "Wh-who _are_ you?" Her pupils have expanded and I'm surprised that she even let me put my hands on her in the first place.

I want to sweep her into my arms and carry her home.

"Merely," I manage, "a ghost wishing to be alive again."

She's perplexed but I untangle myself from her and retreat over the drawbridge. My team follows this time.

Samantha watches me go.

xXx

We arrive, purposely, a few days before them and deliver the news.

I catch Shisui and Atsuko kissing out back and decide to casually meander out front. Natsuhiko shambles out with me and sits on the doorstep. "Sojun?"

"Sojun," I confirm.

Natsuhiko shrugs. "Your family and mine were only meant to cross paths. Never to intertwine."

It stings but I stuff it down, "I see that now."

He nods. "It's for the best."

"Go back to bed, Hiko."

His gaze is scathing. I'm too mad to care.

Kaoru and Atsuko accompany us home. Airi stays with Natsuhiko's family for another few days.

xXx 

Shisui's hearing eventually returns. He and Atsuko marry in the Spring the next year. And while Kaoru is sad, she never has any hard feelings over it.

Katrina and I have dated for a few years.

Airi married Akio and moved back to Japan. Fuck if I don't miss my sister.

I've never met my biological family. But I've learned to be okay with that. Maybe one day they'll want to see us and make an appearance. Until then, I'm not going to worry my head over it.

I don't keep in touch with Natsuhiko's family much. Last I heard, Avalon and Akane finally got married.

Samantha and Sojun had a baby.

Yeesh, sounds like Dad is home already.

"I'm hoome~!" Says a woman whose voice I don't recognize.

Looking down stairs, at the doorway only renders me to shock. A woman with sandy-blonde hair and a traveling cloak looks up at me and removes her mask. "Well hello there, Mareo!"

Two men, not particularly tall, one with dark hair and another with bright blonde look up at me. The _way_ the look at me.

It's them.

"It's been a very long time," Says Shisui's father. He looks far too much like Shisui not to be. "Ken's done a lot of moving."

"Can you blame him?" Says the blonde man, looking disturbingly untouched by time. "A lot of people wanted to get their hands on our children."

"And _her_ children," Chimes the woman.

"Yes. But her children have never truly had to worry," Says the dark-haired man.

"And that ours have is our fault, I'm sorry to say." The woman flips her hair over her shoulder. It's so short, though, it simply falls back into place.

There they stand. Watching me watch them.

And I just know I'm getting the worst case of closure ever.


End file.
